In 1997, President and CEO Julie Young pioneered the launch of Florida Virtual School with the goal of providing high-quality, online courses to students. That vision resulted in Florida Virtual School becoming one of the largest providers of Internet-based courseware and instruction for middle and high school students, not only in Florida, but also around the globe. Julie serves as President of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) and Chairman of the Board of the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL). http://www.flvs.net

Oct 15, 2009

Dr. Christopher Moersch

Enough talk about students being different. An abundance of research findings, books, articles, and presentations during the current decade have already defined the concept of the digital native; yet, few examples exist documenting replicable success stories that used the tenets of digital-age literacy as defined by the NETS-S as the focal point to improve student achievement. How can classrooms take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies when they are still encased in Teach 1.0 methodologies (e.g. didactic instruction, sequential teaching materials, traditional assessments) designed to raise test scores? http://www.loticonnection.com

Oct 16, 2009

Dr. Elliot Soloway

Dr. Cathleen Norris

Teaching 21st century skills in K-12 requires the use of 21st century tools. The cellphone computer – not the laptop – is the quintessential 21st century tool. Today’s youth already know this fact: for them, the cellphone is an essential tool in their lives – outside of school. In our presentation, we will describe how school districts all around the world are embracing cellphone technology and using it for curricular purposes all day, every day - for in school learning activities and for out of school learning opportunities.

Dr. Soloway is a Professor of Education, Engineering, and Information at the University of Michigan. For the past 10 years, Elliot has been exploring how mobile computing technologies can be effectively used in K-12 classrooms. Elliot is a co-founder and CEO of GoKnow Learning, Inc.

Cathleen is a Regents Professor at the University of North Texas. Cathie’s 14 years in high school classrooms as a mathematics and computer science teacher in the Dallas Public Schools have shaped her university research agenda – she focuses on developing strategies for helping move K-12 teachers into the 21st century. Cathie has been President of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and President of the National Educational Computing Association (NECA). Cathie is a co-founder of GoKnow, Inc. an Ann Arbor-based company that provides K-12 with mobile learning products and services. http://www.goknow.com

Jan 15, 2010

Vicki Davis

Vicki is a teacher and IT director in Georgia. She co-created three award winning international wiki-centric projects: Flat Classroom, Horizon, and Digiteen. These projects have linked more than 2,000 students from schools around the globe. Vicki was featured in Thomas Friedman’s book The World Is Flat and Don Tapscott’s book Grown Up Digital. Her blog, Cool Cat Teacher, won the 2008 edublog Best Teacher Blog award. This session combines change research from the NY Times best seller Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, and Vicki’s own workshop Seven Steps to Flatten Your Classroom in terms of globalizing your curriculum. http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com

Feb 12, 2010

Dr. Jason Ohler

Dr. Ohler, a Professor of Educational Technology and Distance Learning, at theUniversity of Alaska, points out that literacy has always meant being able to consume and produce the media forms of the day. For centuries this has meant writing. Now it means blending words with images, sounds, music, video, and other media to create the new communication default: the multimedia collage, in the form of web pages, digital stories, YouTube creations, etc. Based on Jason's book: Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity, this session will focus on transforming learning through digital creativity. http://www.jasonohler.com

Mr. Horn will discuss uses of the theories of disruptive innovation to identify the root causes of schools’ struggles and suggest a path forward to customize an education for every child in the way they learn. http://www.innosightinstitute.org/

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Authors and pundits stress the importance of creativity, but what does that mean or look like in classrooms? This keynote will address questions, such as: How do we get there? What do we need to change? Is creativity reserved for specific subject areas? Which hardware and software support creativity? What are the essential elements of effective project-based learning?

Gary holds a PhD in Education from the University of Melbourne. He fights courageously to wake up the slumbering forces that guard the traditional fortress of “one size fits all” education. http://www.stager.org

Apr 9, 2010

Steve Hargadon

Steve is Elluminate’s Social Learning Consultant, the director of the K-12 Open Technologies Initiative at CoSN, the Emerging Technologies Chair for NECC, and the founder of the Classroom 2.0 social network. He is passionate about Web 2.0 and Open Source Software. This session will focus on the societal and cultural changes taking place and their impact on education. Steve will discuss the ways that we can predict right now that schools will change. He will address some questions that are hard to answer - dilemmas we will face and the things that we can do now to prepare for the changes. . http://www.classroom20.com

May 21, 2010

David Pogue

As the New York Times’s tech reviewer, David Pogue has a front-row seat for observing the blazing-fast torrent of new inventions. Hundreds of gadgets and technologies come down the pike every year, and plenty get lots of press--but most of it’s junk. In this fast, funny presentation, Pogue will stick his neck out to predict which will actually cause major, disruptive changes. He’ll display, discuss, and even demonstrate the technological advances--in computing, cellular tech, Web 2.0, and more--that will have the most impact on society in the coming years. http://www.davidpogue.com